Documents to this effect were signed in Ha Noi on Jan. 18.

The project will be carried out in the 2005-1013 period, with the money to be spent on vocational training, job creation and the improvement of living conditions for local people.-Enditem

While there, the Vietnamese artists gave performances in Munich , Leipzig and Berlin . Their performances were welcomed by overseas Vietnamese communities, especially the show in Berlin last Saturday, which was watched by more than 2,000 people, including Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Nguyen Ba Son.

On Sunday, the Vietnamese art troupe left Germany for Poland , the next leg of its performance tour of Europe.-Enditem

The seminar, jointly held by the Vietnamese Embassy and the German Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, drew representatives from many German Governmental agencies, firms, economic and financial organisations.

Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Ba Son highlighted recent social and political developments in Viet Nam andf Southeast Asia, stressing Viet Nam's efforts to create a better investment environment for foreign investors, including German businesses.

Policies on investment, the legal system and business environment, especially the country's economic reform as well as Viet Nam-German comprehensive cooperation were introduced at the seminar.

Many German businesses spoke high of Viet Nam's recent economic development and describedf Viet Nam's investment environment as stable and favourable. They briefed the participants about their business achievements and experiences in Viet Nam.

Head representative in Ha Noi of the German Chamber of Commerce (AHK) Wolfgang Ehmann said that Viet Nam is emerging as a "tiger" in the region for its quality of economic growth.

According to AHK's statistics, Germany ranks 21st in capital among foreign investors in Viet Nam. Thirty-four percent of German businesses in Viet Nam are involved in trade, 33 percent in production, 14 percent in transport, 13 percent in development assistance and 6 percent in banking.

VIETCOT is one of the four training centres for orthopaedic technologists to have been recognised in the world, with the three others in Tanzania, El Salvador, and Cambodia.

VIETCOT was established under a Viet Nam-Germany bilateral technical cooperation project through the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ). The project is carried out from 1994-2006 at a cost of 10.328 million EUR, including Germany's technical assistance estimated at 8.18 million EUR. It focuses on improving the supply of prostheses for disabled people, training high-skilled orthopaedic technologists, and improving the quality of orthopaedic products.

The centre opened the first three-year course for 15 students in October 1997. It has so far trained around 100 technologists in long- and short-term courses. In addition, it opened the first course for foreigners in October 2003, and plans to offer another in October 2005. Six students, including four Korean have registered to attend the course.

Through training, the centre has helped rehabilitate the physically disabled. The centre also gives remote areas advice in caring for the disabled, early discovery of congenital malformation to prevent further deformation and improving patients' living conditions.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the physically disabled people account for 0.5 percent of the population in unindustrialised countries. However, due to war, there are in Viet Nam 0.8 million disabled people. The country needs about 270 orthopaedic technologists, but it has only 150 technologists working at 23 functional rehabilitation centres nationwide.

GZT began operation in Viet Nam in 1993. The German Government has pledged more than 130 million EUR for GZT projects in Viet Nam. GZT is taking part in 20 programmes and projects in support of Viet Nam's sustainable development. At present, GZT technical assistance to Viet Nam focuses on three preferential areas, namely economic reform and building a market-oriented economy, protection and sustainable management of the natural resources, and health care.-Enditem

He further said that with a share of 26 percent, Germany is the largest trade partners of Viet Nam in Europe and, since the middle of the 90s, the volume of trade between Viet Nam and Germany has more than trippled.

The Ambassador was speaking on the occasion that  Ernst Pfister, Minister of Economic Affairs of Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg, who is also Governor of the Baden-Wuerttemberg State, will lead a 35-member economic delegation to visit Viet Nam from Nov. 20-25 with the aim of helping Baden-Wuerttemberg businesses.

During the six-day visit, the delegation will attend two technological symposiums in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City to introduce new technologies applied for small- and medium-sized businesses.

The delegation is also scheduled to need with Deputy Industry Minister Do Huu Hao and Director of the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission Truong Tan Sang.

The Baden-Wuerttemberg State established cooperative ties with Viet Nam in 1993, in partricular, in the area of advanced and special training. It has established intensive contacts with the Technical Teacher Training University in Ho Chi Minh City and is supporting the special training of technical instructors within the framework of a project worth over 6.5 million EUR. Companies from Baden-Wurttemberg exported goods worth 120 million EUR to Viet Nam in 2003.

Baden-Wuerttemberg State ranks second among Germany's attractive economic areas. It is one of the strongest industrial regions in Europe in automotive construction, the aerospace industry, telecommunications, information technology, electronics, and mechanical and electrical engineering.-Enditem